Netflix star Noah Centineo trades rom-coms for Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Black Adam’

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If you’re a Netflix fan, there’s a good chance you recognize Noah Centineo (or your kids do). After Centineo rocketed to fame as Peter Kavinsky, the hopeless romantic in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series, he played the lovesick Jamey in Sierra Burgess is a Loser. He also appeared in other young adult-centric streaming hits like The Perfect Date and Swiped.

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After becoming a Netflix sensation, and quickly raking up millions of fans on Instagram, an overnight star was born.

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So once he had conquered the rom-com genre, one would think that Centineo, 26, was thirsting to join the world of superheroes. It was the exact opposite, he says.

“I gotta be honest, I wasn’t,” laughs Centineo in a recent Zoom call from Los Angeles. “I never really considered it.”

But when he was invited to play the DC superhero Atom Smasher alongside Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam, he was excited to leave the high school hallways and try something different in an acting career that started at age 8 and has also included appearances on the Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally and the Freeform drama The Fosters.

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“You grow up running around the backyard pretending to have superpowers,” the Florida native says. “So when I put on the suit for the first time, I remember looking in the mirror thinking, ‘What the f—? This is insane.’ I couldn’t believe it was real.”

In Black Adam, now playing in theatres, Centineo’s Atom Smasher (aka Albert Rothstein) and other members of the Justice Society of America (including Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate, Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman and Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone) are charged with capturing Johnson’s vengeful anti-hero when he is awoken in modern-day Kahndaq after being imprisoned for 5,000 years. As Black Adam dispenses his own brutal form of justice, the JSA struggle mightily to contain him.

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Centineo knew “practically nothing” about Atom Smasher, who can control his molecular structure to grow super tall, but quickly delved into the comic books after he landed the job.

“I learned a lot about who he is and who his family was — his uncle was a superhero and his grandfather was a villain. So I used that to inform how a guy like him would be excited walking into a roomful of superheroes.”

Still, no matter how much he prepared, when he showed up on set, Centineo didn’t really know how his first foray into the world of superheroes would work after being the man of every teen girl’s dreams. “You just throw it all away and see what comes up,” he says, smiling.

In the midst of a world tour that has seen the cast crisscrossing the globe, Centineo spoke about how Black Adam is a different kind of comic book movie, where he’s keeping his action figure and being excited to work with Johnson.

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How does Black Adam set itself apart from what we’ve seen so far in the DC Cinematic Universe?

“First and foremost, we’ve got the Rock, which is pretty dope. Second of all, the tone of Black Adam is different. It’s very dark … there’s a lot of dead bodies. There’s a high body count in our film, and there’s a lot of excruciating ways to die. But our film takes place in a place called Kahndaq, which is a country that is under occupation from a militant group. That’s a real-world scenario … We’ve made this grandiose, entertaining, massive, fun movie, but we’ve rooted it in some very important topics … that open a conversation beyond what’s right and wrong.”

This has been a passion project for Dwayne for over a decade. How did his level of excitement energize the rest of the cast?

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“He exudes passion, and you can’t help but feel it and give it back. He’s been developing this project for over a decade and he’s been patiently waiting to pull the trigger on it. When he’s sitting there, you can feel his excitement for this story and his connection to Black Adam and his connection to all the other characters as well. He’s a guy who knows exactly what he wants. He’s a great team builder and a master of gracious professionalism. He believes in you so much that even if you don’t believe in yourself, you’re going to. That’s what it’s like to work with him.”

Atom Smasher is such a scene stealer in this movie. Where would you like to see him go next?

“It would be great to crowdsource that answer. I want to know what everyone else thinks. For me, there are so many different ways you can take the Justice Society of America and Atom Smasher. It can go dark; it can get lighter. I’m game for all of it. I hope there’s more …”

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Where are you keeping your Atom Smasher action figure?

(Laughs) “He’s going to be in my bedroom, obviously.”

Time for a controversial question. What’s your favourite DC film?

“Dude, I mean, Heath Ledger’s Joker, you can’t compare that to anyone. And Christopher Nolan is, of course, the master. I would say The Dark Knight.”

Black Adam is in theatres now

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